Save nine -

"Flying in the Face of Fashion"
digital collage by Mick Mather

"... the stitch is lost unless the thread be knotted ..."
- Italian Proverb

A drab coat -

"The Patternmaker II"
digital collage by Mick Mather

"... as the pattern gets more intricate and subtle, being swept away is no longer enough ..."
- unknown

Illustration Friday: Pattern -

"Pattern"
manipulated digital drawing by Mick Mather

"... champion the right to be yourself;
dare to be different and to set your own pattern;
live your own life
and follow your own star ...."
- Wilfred Peterson

Analog locative technology -

"Ritual Patterns of Spring"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Today's post sat around for a while as I considered how I might finish it. As regulars have already realized, I'm afflicted with "Spring Fever" and my thoughts revolve around expressions of renewal and hope for my favorite season. While doing research on locative media projects that involve more new technology than I have a budget for, I regressed to an old analog solution. Laying a dress pattern over a mapped grid seemed to work nicely here ... evidently the ladies agree, they're already walking the route!

Something graphic -

"The Checkered Jacket"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Many years ago, when I was doing block-relief prints 95% of the time I worked only in black and white. This digital collage is just the sort of image that I'd transfer to a block, cut and edition without batting an eye. The checked pattern of the jacket is the attraction for me in this piece and the rest of the image is almost incidental. As I look at this and reflect, it occurs to me that there's a lot of my old print work that might benefit from a revisit here. I think like this from time to time and with so much work to do, it's hard to justify the time spent again on old work. We'll see.

Thursday Challenge: Patterned -

"Patterned"
photograph by Mick Mather

A completely untouched photograph, aside from cropping, for the Thursday Challenge theme, patterned. Once again this week I'm not here ... this is Third Thursday and I'm at an art opening. I'm thinking about smuggling a few bottles of wine into this one. Let me see, where in the world did I stash that Riesling? :)

Another new series?

"Ghost #1"
digital collage by Mick Mather

It sure seems like this is the year for a diversity of new and related works. This piece is not the first of what is now officially being referred to as The Ghost Series, but it is the first one posted. In many ways, these images are tied to my monotype prints in that they're faint, ghost-like impressions of a more distinct layer. I use these to lighten or darken a piece and to add texture, patterns or shadows. Long story short, I have a number of such layers that can stand alone and, where appropriate, I'll begin to post them.

NEW from The Making Faces Series -

"An Idea Forming"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I was just having some fun, again, with this piece from the Making Faces Series. By the time it was finished there were a near-dozen working proofs and finished images. I was too close to it and had to put it away for a while. Last week, afforded an opportunity to look at it with fresh eyes, I began to see something in the upper left hand corner. A pattern, a hazy beginning or, perhaps, a washed out ending. For those of us who believe that ideas float free in the ether, waiting for someone, anyone, more then one, to wrestle them into the real world, this piece is as close as I can come to illustrating the process. Hence, the title of tonight's image...and I wonder, ought I to snag that little triangle and fiddle a bit more with it? And so, as the sun sinks slowly in the west, our hero can be seen chasing the fog and a dream.